Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies,

Online ISSN 2278-8808, SJIF 2018 = 6.371, www.srjis.com

PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL, JAN-FEB, 2019, VOL- 6/49

A STUDY OF IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON COSMETICS INDUSTRY IN

INDIA: A BRANDING AND CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR PERSPECTIVE

Prof. S. D. Sharma 1 & Ms Pooja Shahi 2

1
(Principal, Sri. J.N.P.G. College, Lucknow)
2
(Research Scholar, Mewar University)

Abstract

Cosmetics Industry is the most dynamic industry. The products change very fast according to the need
and fashion. A product may be best selling today and may become out of fashion tomorrow. The
dynamic nature of need and preferences in cosmetic industry not only affects the product but it also
affects marketing and branding efforts too. The branding of cosmetic products need high information
input in terms of consumers preference, consumer feedback and consumer expectation. In such an
environment social media is playing great role. Although in current scenario most of the companies of
several different industries are present on social media to communicate about their brand but it is
completely different in case of cosmetic industry. In cosmetic industry the presence on social media is
not only required but the promptness in reply to user generated content (UGC) is also required. The
present research paper is an effort to estimate the impact of social media on consumers buying
behavior and barding aspects of cosmetic products. The present study shows that Social media impact
is highly correlated with female buying behaviour, brand affect and brand trust. Yet social media has
much more to do to create brand loyalty.
Keywords – Cosmetics Industry, Social Media, Branding

Scholarly Research Journal's is licensed Based on a work at www.srjis.com

I. INTRODUCTION
In the present era when social media is used most frequently than ever and content clutter on
internet, marketers face increasing challenges in maximising the ROI of social activities, as
well as understanding consumer preferences in a fast-changing industry. With an immense
volume of content being posted online around makeup brands every day, how can cosmetics
marketers be strategic in monitoring and engaging consumers online?
Digimind (a Social media and competitive Intelligence company) conducted a study in
Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Philippines from 13 January to 6
March 2018, in English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tagalog. They found that looking at brand-
related posts by customers on social media, 56.7% of discussions were on Instagram, making
it a treasure trove of user generated content (UGC), where makeup fans shared various looks,
makeovers, and product hauls. The customer discussion was all different on other media i.e.
twitter and facebook. The study shows that the social media is no more remained a common
Copyright © 2017, Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies
 Prof. S. D. Sharma & Ms Pooja Shahi
(Pg. 11755-11760)
11756

term. People interaction on instagram is all different in comparison with other media. So the
social media companies must actively differentiate their content and communication pattern
on each media.
In another issue related to cosmetic product branding, a cosmetics giant Maybelline has
posted on Twitter on 22 Feb 2018 that whether they should remain on Snapchat or not.
Actually Maybelline found that their Snapchat account have less response than others. They
put an excuse that the cost and efforts of being on Snapchat is not resulting worthy for them.
This post created a huge buzz and very soon realizing the importance of being on each social
media Maybelline removed their tweet.
This raised a big question in the mind of marketer that the social media is actually affecting
the cosmetic industry or it is only a deception. The issue of returns on investment (ROI)
makes the present study important. In the present study researcher has tried to explore the
same issue of impact of social media on consumers buying behaviour and brand related
aspects.
II. RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
To understand the impact of social media on consumers buying behaviour and brand related
aspects following hypotheses are formed:
Hypothesis-1:
Null Hypothesis (Ho): Social Media has no impact on buying decision of female cosmetic
users
Alternate Hypothesis (Ha): Social Media has an impact on buying decision of female
cosmetic users
Hypothesis-2:
Null Hypothesis (Ho): Role of Social media have no impact on cosmetic products’ brand
affect.
Alternate Hypothesis (Ha): Role of Social media have a significant impact on cosmetic
products’ brand affect.
Hypothesis-3:
Null Hypothesis (Ho): Role of Social media have no impact on cosmetic products’ brand
trust.
Alternate Hypothesis (Ha): Role of Social media have a significant impact on cosmetic
products’ brand trust.
Copyright © 2017, Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies
 Prof. S. D. Sharma & Ms Pooja Shahi
(Pg. 11755-11760)
11757

Hypothesis-4:
Null Hypothesis (Ho): Role of Social media have no impact on cosmetic products’ brand
loyalty.
Alternate Hypothesis (Ha): Role of Social media have a significant impact on cosmetic
products’ brand loyalty.
III. METHOD OF STUDY
For the research purpose a questionnaire with 25 questions is used. The questionnaire is used
for female customers of cosmetic products. Sample size for the research is 500 respondents
affected by social media in cosmetics industry. The questionnaire has been developed by with
the help of 160 sample data. The tool statistics is as follows:
Scale Statistics
Cronbach’s
Mean Variance Std. Deviation N of Items Alpha
93.9250 192.334 13.86845 25 0.841

IV. FINDING OF STUDY

0 -
1H Null Hypothesis: Social Media has no impact on buying decision of female cosmetic
users
Correlations
Social Media Female Buying
Impact Behaviour
Social Media Impact Pearson Correlation 1 .709**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 500 500
Female Buying Behaviour Pearson Correlation .709** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 500 500
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Table: 1 –Correlation Calculation for hypothesis 01
The correlations between Social Media Impact with Female Buying are very high. Pearson
Correlation value is positive 0.709 which is good and correlation is significant at the 0.01
level. So it can be said that null hypothesis is rejected. So it can be said that, “Social Media
has an impact on buying decision of female cosmetic users”.
0
2H ): Role of Social media have no impact on cosmetic brand affect.

Copyright © 2017, Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies

 Prof. S. D. Sharma & Ms Pooja Shahi
(Pg. 11755-11760)
11758

Correlations
Social Media
Impact Brand Affect
Social Media Impact Pearson Correlation 1 .565**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 500 500
Brand Affect Pearson Correlation .565** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 500 500
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Table: 2 – Correlation Calculation for hypothesis 02
The correlations between Social Media Impact with Brand Affect are high. Pearson
Correlation value is positive 0.565 which is good and correlation is significant at the 0.01
level. So it can be said that null hypothesis is rejected. So it can be said that, “Role of Social
media have a significant impact on cosmetic products’ brand affect.”
0–
3H Role of Social media have no impact on cosmetic brand trust.
Correlations
Social Media
Impact Brand Trust
Social Media Impact Pearson Correlation 1 .659**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 500 500
Brand Trust Pearson Correlation .659** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 500 500
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Table: 3 – Correlation Calculation for hypothesis 03
The correlations between Social Media Impact with Brand Trust are high. Pearson
Correlation value is positive 0.565 which is good and correlation is significant at the 0.01
level. So it can be said that null hypothesis is rejected. So it can be said that, “Role of Social
media have a significant impact on cosmetic products’ brand trust.”
0–
4H Role of Social media have no impact on cosmetic brand loyalty
Correlations
Social Media
Impact Brand Loyalty
Social Media Impact Pearson Correlation 1 .118**
Sig. (2-tailed) .008
N 500 500
Brand Loyalty Pearson Correlation .118** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .008
N 500 500
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Table: 4 – Correlation Calculation for hypothesis 04

Copyright © 2017, Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies

 Prof. S. D. Sharma & Ms Pooja Shahi
(Pg. 11755-11760)
11759

The correlations between Social Media Impact with Brand Loyalty are low but are positive.
Pearson Correlation value is positive 0.118 which is low and yet correlation is significant at
the 0.01 level. So it can be said that null hypothesis is rejected. So it can be said that, “Role of
Social media have a significant impact on cosmetic products’ brand Loyalty.” The low
correlation shows that the brand loyalty is generated by many other factors and social media
is only a small part contributing to all factors.
Model Summary
Std. Error of the
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Estimate
1 .835a .698 .696 2.44939
a. Predictors: (Constant), Brand Loyalty, Brand Trust, Female Buying Behaviour,
Brand Affect
Table – 5 Multiple correlation calculation
The adjusted R2 value shows that Brand Loyalty, Brand Trust, Female Buying Behaviour and
Brand Affect well explains the impact of social media. The value .698 shows that factors
explain 69% of the model. There are also other factors which are involved in the domain of
effect of social media.
Conclusion:
Social media has transformed the approach of cosmetic companies to connect and
communicate with customers worldwide. The influence of the social media can persuade
Cosmetic Industry in the following ways:
High Customer Involvement and Engagement:
Social media is a two-way communication between target audience and the cosmetic
companies. Social media provides high customer commitment and improve the
communication with their customers. The cosmetic companies are able to generate customer
feedbacks via different online presences. Additionally, cosmetic companies are able to use
social media to better target and approach their own customers and listen to different voices
from them.
Effect on Brand:
Social Media has been successfully used by beauty and cosmetic industries. The present
research shows that it affects the Brand Loyalty, Brand Trust, and Brand Affect.
Generate Sales:
Social media is transforming the way that cosmetic companies generate the sales. Cosmetic
companies use the power of world-of-mouth on social media to double their sales.

Copyright © 2017, Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies

 Prof. S. D. Sharma & Ms Pooja Shahi
(Pg. 11755-11760)
11760

In the after math of Maybelline’s post on Twitter about snapchat it was found that they also
accepted the fact and importance of being on snapchat and removed their post from twitter.
So at the end it could be concluded that the social media is effective in the branding of
cosmetic products.
References:
3 ways cosmetic brands can win at social media, URL at:
https://blog.digimind.com/en/insight-driven-marketing/3-ways-cosmetics-brands-can-win-at-social-
media-engagement-and-monitoring/, Last accessed Aug 2018
Ab Hamid, N. R., Akhir, R. M., and Cheng, A. Y. (2013). Social media: An emerging dimension of
marketing communication. Journal of Management and Marketing Research, 12, 1.
As'ad, H. A. R., and Alhadid, A. Y. (2014). The impact of social media marketing on brand equity: An
empirical study on mobile service providers in Jordan. Review of Integrative Business and
Economics Research, 3(1), 315.
Bickart, B., and Schindler, R.M.(July 2001), “Internet forums as influential sources of consumer
information”, “Journal of Interactive Marketing”, 15, 3 31–40.
Charoensukmongkol, P., and Sasatanun, P. (2017). Social media use for CRM and business
performance satisfaction: The moderating roles of social skills and social media sales
intensity. Asia Pacific Management Review, 22(1), 25-34.
Chu, S. C. (2011). Viral advertising in social media: Participation in Facebook groups and responses
among college-aged users. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 12(1), 30-43.

Copyright © 2017, Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies